This guest blog comes courtesy of Peloton Training.
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An all-too-often favoured training technique of many recreational cyclists is to go out and just ride. Completing our pre-chosen course in the quickest time we can within the boundaries of reasonable comfort is often the goal. Or perhaps we’ll go out and we won’t be satisfied unless we can feel the burn in our legs so that we can tell ourselves we’ve worked hard today.
This training - fun and challenging as it is - is not the type of training that will continue to bear the fruits of increased power, aerobic fitness and efficiency over time. Real quality training takes discipline to elicit the various physiological adaptations available by using a structured programme using the full range of training zones – a scale of your heart rate or power production broken down into ‘zones’, each with their own intensity levels and physiological benefits.
Did you know, for example, that you should be spending around 60-80% of your training in zone 2? In this zone, cycling should feel almost too easy. You could do it all day. But it is this overlooked zone that builds your aerobic base, enabling the body to use fat stores as fuel for longer, crucially preserving the more powerful glycogen stores until they are really needed.
By taking a 30-minute lactate threshold test with Peloton Training at Bespoke Cycles in London, you will find out your maximum power, which you can compare with your fellow riders for bragging rights and more importantly, you will find your threshold point. Found through blood lactate analysis, the data essentially locates the highest intensity you can sustain for a significant amount of time and is the basis of accurate generation of your zones. By using a ramped-interval format, all you need to do is cycle at steadily increasing speeds until you can go no further.
After the test you will receive a comprehensive report with all your data including VO2 max estimates, as well as guidance on how to train to reach your targets based on your results. By comparing your maximum power to your threshold power, we can identify whether your training focus should be on increasing fitness or power.
By re-testing throughout your training period, you can quickly and reliably see whether your training has been effective or whether it needs to change. Regular re-testing allows you to understand your body much better and optimises the gains you will receive by avoiding stagnation and over-training.
The Wattbike is the Peloton Training physiologist’s weapon of choice for the test due to its renowned power reading accuracy and real-bike feel - the reason why it has found its way into many a sports scientist’s lab across so many different sports since its release. There can be no argument about the data produced. The Wattbike does not lie! To add to the wealth of information you gain from the test, the Wattbike will also show you your pedalling technique. You may leave the test centre and have already gained extra power just by adjusting your technique, without even starting your training!
If you are a cyclist of any level – beginner or competitive - that wants to get quicker, wants to know what power you are capable of or wants to begin to engage in real, structured training by finding out your training zones, take a threshold test with Peloton Training.
Peloton Training’s training camps down in Suffolk can also provide you with a way to use your test data and really take your training further with help and advice from top-level coaches as well as full mechanical and nutritional support. Go to www.pelotontraining.co.uk and watch our video (http://vimeo.com/86108557) to find out more.